We had our first choir concert and it went pretty well. We got to sing in the Palazzo Vecchio which was pretty sweet. We only sang 4 songs, so it was very short. Some parts were a little flat, but otherwise not too shabby! I still love it :)
My parents got here the day after our concert, go figure, and that was last Wednesday. I ran over to their hotel during my 15 minute break from class and they were just putting their bags into their room. Talk about good timing! Mom said the smile on my face was pretty huge; it was really good to see them. After I was done with class I bee-lined them to the gelato shop and I can definitively say they are in love. Dad kept asking me if I was SURE the ice cream cone we got was only 1 Euro. He couldn't believe how cheap it was! We have had gelato EVERY day since they've been here. I LOVE that my parents love ice-cream (gelato in this case) as much as I do! We just took a short walk around Florence and I pointed out some of the major sites. Then we went and ate at a good restaurant my host mom had taken me to.
Thursday after class I took my parents to the Medici Crypt underneath San Lorenzo church. I had not been yet, so it was pretty cool! I also got in free thanks to my Friends of the Uffizi card. Sweet! We also walked around the food market for a while and got a bite to eat there. That night I directed them to Trattoria Anita and I later found out that their food was amazing. Love that place!
Friday morning it was off to Rome! We arrived and were soon introduced to their wonky bus system. Actually, it was a fine bus system, except that there appeared to be no place to buy a schedule of the lines and their stops which proved to be frustrating. However, we were able to make it to our hotel just fine. The hotel was nice too! Mom and Dad's bed was underneath mine, but theirs was a queen? and mine was a lofted single. We had a double hot plate, small fridge and microwave, so we even cooked 3 meals while we were there! OH MY GOSH! There was also Fox station on tv IN ENGLISH so we watched a lot of Simpsons, Scrubs, and According to Jim. They wouldn't be my first choices in shows, but they were in english so I watched them. Thankfully my parents were understanding in that I haven't seen English shows on tv since I've been here, so they put up with it. Mom even laughed at the Simpsons a few times! Big steps for her :P
Unfortunately it rained pretty much the entire time we were there. Needless to say it got quite frustrating having to battle the rain all the time. Friday after we put our stuff in our hotel we walked around the inside of St. Peter's. Then Saturday it was really rainy so we went and visited Castle Sant'Angelo which is really an old prison/fortress. Then there was a pause in the rain so we hurried to the Colosseum and walked around the outside. On Sunday it was pretty nice in the morning so we went to the Trevi Fountain and Mom and I tossed in our coins so we would be guaranteed a trip back to Rome. Dad didn't want to toss a coin because he wasn't really enthused about coming back to Rome. Then we went back to the Colosseum and toured the inside. It was really really neat! Definitely a good chunk of history right there!
Today we went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel. It was A LOT of art, but very cool. We ate gelato EVERY day while we were in Rome. There was a really good place that we always walked past and it had HUGE cones with 3 flavors of your choice for only 2 euros. It was pretty amazing. We also ate at the same restaurant twice because it was really good. I got penne alla vodka both times. It's penne pasta in a vodka creme sauce...so delicious!
Well, those were the highlights of the trip. I am quite tired so I apologize for the lack of creativity/exciting details in this one!
Until next time....
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